Photo: Guillermo Kahlo, Public domain — Source
Mexican painter known for her vivid, deeply personal self-portraits that drew on folk art, surrealism, and her own experience of chronic pain following a devastating bus accident at age 18. Her work explored identity, the human body, death, and Mexican indigenous culture with unflinching honesty. Married to muralist Diego Rivera in a famously turbulent relationship, she became a cultural icon whose influence extends far beyond the art world into feminism, LGBTQ+ identity, and disability advocacy. The Blue House (Casa Azul) in Coyoacán, where she was born and died, is now a museum dedicated to her legacy.
Source: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)